Method of treating trees for extracting sap.



J. T. GILMER.

METHOD OF TREATING TREES FOR EXTRAOTING SAP.

APPLICATION FILED NOV 1!)v 1M1 Patented Dec. 19, 1911.

(317 INVENTOR,

c1011. n I Y. (QT/n1 TTORNEY WITNESSES wow '2 d 7- ll rlillllllllllllMIETHOD 03E TRlMLTIl IG WILKES 1 011.1 IFJIKTIMLCJIING Sill,

llwpecilloz-itlon of letters 'l'fatour.

ll olorrljml Doc. Il ll, llllll ll all "a liov'o ll may err acorn."

l o it lmowu. that I, .lonu T. Gum/om, a moo ol l'ho United Ell-altos,residing at Mobile. in siho rounly of Mobile and State of Alabama. havellifli'lllfll, a now and useful ll/l olhod of Treating "plroos forllxtraoting Sap, of which the following a specific-ation.

"lhi invention has reference to improvemonlo in a method of collectingturpentine, hut equally applioahlo to the collecting of sap of otherkinds, and. its object is lo provide for a copious llow of sap withoutinjury to the *troo and without waste of the sap.

By the present invention a large number of sap duals may be lap uuflwithout; oxpor- Ling lho wood to atnmsphorio Flier-ls, and lo this (andtho invention cons .1. in first Forming a seat inlho bark of tho whowith-- out, romoviug the barlr except the superficial layers, so lhal:the harder hark layors are ox pooorl, the seal. boingclosigrwcl torocoivo'u cover 'uwinher by which sup may ho lliroolod to am!" ablecontainer, the rh-iviroshoxvu in la. "latent No. 9611153, for map or gumout tor. grautoil to mo on Juno 2], 1910,

Wall adapl' od for tho PLXIPOSO. After :lorniing a. suitable seal; forthe cap member of tho present invention, passa are formed in the sapwood in divorgom rolal'iou one lo fho other and inclining upwardly intoiho sap wood from a point approx:uuuly rr-nulral lo tho seat formed inthe bark, ware; l. mg taken that tho direction of the pass .Qhall hesuch that they romain wholly in the sap wood and do not reach theheartol? the lreo. The seal for the (rap adapted to be attached to thetreo and to which the collecting cup is fas onol'l, may loo foil-mod,lay a suitable auger, while. the pasoages leading from tho oenl'or ofthis oral; into the sap wood may he formed by an auger hit of suitablysmall. size oapalolo of culling holes into the true in traversingrelation to the sup ducts and at: a suitable inoliualion to thehorizontal, so that sup llo'wing: from tho ruptured duels inlo'tho pawwill gravitate clown the same lo tho oultlol; ends and he caught by thecap member and lira-i L lllllO the cozu'iainor or cup dolplluu, lul-wnin commotion with e: fllfflllllllmnyll'l gf drawingo forming a part ofthis spooilioal-irm, with tho understanding, however. that the invonlion is not n'eoessarily .limitrd to the oxaoia procedure set forth, hutmay he varied wilhin such limits as shall not comslitulo a departurefrom the salient 'fGlellllQl-Jfll i'ho invention.

lnlho drawings:---Figuro l iS a perspeclive view of tho exteriorof-a=tree with a collecting cup-attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a section onthe line Q -2.01 Fig. Fig. 3 is an outline viow of a portion of a'troeafter having been prepared in accordance with the prosout invention.

Referring-to the drawings, t-horo is shown a portion 101" a free trunk,and since for convenience of dezoripticm but without; limitation of thein'veulion to tho particular use. ll 2 application of'lho invention mayho considorml with relation lo The collection of turpentine, tho porlion1 of (ho tree will he considered as illustrating a poi-lion of a pineiron from which a swap known au lurpentinu is oollocloll. The tree mayhe generally oon sidomd as oomposod oi. an oulor hark layer 2, a so pmono I and a heart mono 4, the sap :aono lllvlllg inlormmlialo ol. lhohour-L aouo and tho hark. Tn nmol of tho which turponl'ino mlhorrdtho-sap zone or sap wood will apprmiinu'llo two inches in lhioliuoso.

.l'n carrying out tho invonl'ion it as- Ruined lhalz the ortvlluoling;devious :ahown in tho al'or 1d laettors laleul. are loho used, hul.l'hiu duos: not prrutludolho um: of (ll llll collecting;- duviocsoopahlo ox" 2l.l)1)ll('.'1LllOll to tho lroo without. disturbing: thedropmlayoro oi llm hark. 'lho ooll'ovling device. oomprises' a oup l3wil'h a oowor (3 lo whioh secured a cap nuanber 7 designed loho appliedto lho iron. and his; :zover 6 and map 1 are commorod by anin(or-mediaiimcoiipling porlion 8, which as (.lisolooed in saidLetterslalvut also constitute a duct for dirocling the turpentine lo thecup 5 withoul' oxposuro to the atmosphere.

Tn carrying out l'he. invention. lhomis first formwjl in lht. bark oflho roe an annular groove 0. lIlllFl e-mil'ormmg lo the size of the capnumber 7. so blml an annular llango 1O formod on lhiu (rap momhor will.snugly fit into tho groove l) and tho mp momlwr is than arouotul lo ilioirou hy nails 11 driven thereiul'o and haul (Wll lllo (rap momhor, or byany olihor lnouuu Huilahlo for lho purpose. An ordinary {lug-nu may heused For producing lho qroigavo S) for i'ho scoring lips of the Homefrom v is formed auger will produce. a circular groove suitable for thereception of the fiange 1.0, while if this groove is carried deep enoughthe cutters oi? the auger will trim off the bark tlat, as shown at 12,Fig. 2, to any desired depth, but usually the bark is thick enough sothat the groove 9 need not extend entirely through the bark, but onlyinto the denser layers thereof. The operator now takes a bit of propersize, say bit, although the size is not mandatory, and by holding thebit at a suitable angle there is bored into the sap wood 3 fromapproximately the center of the space inclosed by the groove 9, apassage 13 at an angle to the radir of the tree and inclining in anupwarcl direction, the angle being such that the passage is whollywithin the sap wood 8 and it made long enough would ultimately passthrough the bark of the tree ata distant point, but at no time reachingthe'heart of the tree. After producing one passage, another lilrcpassage 14: is produced, but in divergent relation to the first naine'dpassage, the two passages being in meeting relation at about thecentcrot the zone circumscribed by the groove 9, whereby a singleopening at the outer ends of the passages, which opening is of lessdiameter than the combined diameters of both passages. The passages 13-and 14C will traverse many sap ducts and sap escaping from such ductsinto the passages will gravitate along these passages to the outer endsthereof and discharge into the cap 7 to be ultimately directed by theconnecting piece 8 through the cover 9 and into the cup 5, the sap at'no time being. exposed to the atmosphere and consequently is not subjectto loss by evaporation. The passages 13 and 14:, while small, willtraverse many sap ducts and consequently the yield of thet ree will becommensurately rapid. The upward inclination of the'passages permitslonger passages to be bored in the sap area of the tree, than if theywere on a horizontal plane, resulting in the passages traversing greaternumber of the sap ductswhich run vertically of the tree. The inclinationhas the further advantage of causing the sap to flow by'gravity down thepassages to the outlet ends thereof. At the same time there is nonecessity of removing any of the bark of the tree as occurs with theordinary practice of scarification, nor is there any loss due on flowingover such scaritied surfaces, or injury to the wood due to the exposureof the sapwood to the atmosphere, or injury to the tree due to thepresence of boxes formed in the-wood of the tree to catch theturpentine, and when the collecting. devices are finally removed, theholes are too small to constitute a source or injury to the tree,

and inclining upwardly will not catch and retain ram water.

Since both passages have a three tpiarter inch' to oxidation of the saptheir outlet ends opening out at the harlt layer of the tree. it.follows that collecting device is removed, the bark which grows fasterthan the Ft soon grow over the holes and close the r: completely. Theremoval of the superficial layers of the bark within the zone describedby the groove 9 not in the least harmful to the tree and sullicient barkstill remains to protect the sap wood from the ellccts of theatmosphere. after the cap 7 has been removed. The sap or turpentine thusobtained is ofthe purest quality and free from all extraneous matters.The yield is also large, because there is no loss from evaporation, andthe tree .5 neither weakened, as in the case of the tormation of boxesto catch the turpentine, nor is there liability of injury to the treefrom fires, which in the case of boxed trees attack the accumulatedrosin in the boxes and often cause such injury to the trees as to eitherkill them outright or by weakening the tree close to the rootscontribute to the destruction of the tree from wind storms.

The passages 13 and 1a may be made sufiiciently long to cut as many sapducts as are cutin the preparation of the trees by scaritying, butwithout exposure of the. sap wood to the atmosphere.

The advantages of this method will be when the T. of the tree will bestunderstood by referring to my previous patents, 858,380, dated July 2,1907, and ')0T,T78,-dated Dec. 29, 1908. patent there is shown a holewhich is bored horizontally into the tree for a depth oi t-wo-and-mhaltto three-and-a-halt inches, and having a diameter between two tothreeand-a-halt inches. In the second patent, there is shown a pluralityof holes arranged side by side and extending horizontallyinto the tree.In the first instance, of such diameter as to collect water and sapafter the removal of the sap collecting device, which would cause thebreeding o worms that are very "forest. \Vhile in the second patent thisob-- jection would be minimized to some extent, still the horizontalarrangement of the holes or passages would limit the length thereof,

for, it carried beyond two inches, the heart be penetrated. From a f ofthe tree. would consideration of the above, the importance of theangular relation of the two passages and their upward inclination asdistinguish less depth than tha In the first the hole is f nodestructive to a pinsthat? thickness of the bark layer of the tree, thensap collecting device from-the tree, the outer 15 boring through thebark and through the ends of the passages will be closed by the sa pwood only of the tree, two narrow upgrowth of the bark layer over thesame. Wardly inclined passages, which lead from In testimony, that Iclaim the foregoing Within the space defined by the said groove has myown, I have hereto afiixed my signaand are arranged at an angle to eachother, l ture in the presence of two witnesses.

said passages having-a combined diameter; JOHN T. GILMER. considerablyless than the diameter of the \\"itr1esses:

groove and having their outer ends in j uxta- JOHN \V. Molhlrmr, 10position, whereby upon the removal of the J -I-.[. Ween.

